Define “Not Well”

By Holly Lisle

I would say this is not going well, but that would require redefining "not well" to mean "dying like a train-flattened buffalo."

I have done language background. Necessary background to create a world rich in cultures and languages, which play an important role not just in prettying things up, but also in the plot and resolution. I have started write-in. I have discovered that I am going to have to totally rewrite the opening pages, and perhaps the entire opening chapter, to avoid terminology-glut — you know, the novel that starts:

In saar on the wer-wevan, the Taan of the flin-hadd faced his enemy and said, "I will not follow you into chorr, Maku-ne, for I walk the ra of the haffin-hor."

One strives to avoid an opening line of that sort at all costs. Even more vigilantly, one strives to avoid an opening ten pages like that.

Contents © Holly Lisle. https://hollylisle.com All Rights Reserved